The present invention relates to a heating element for use in a building and of the kind that is built up from modular elements having engagement means for interacting with corresponding engagement means on other modular elements, which heating element comprises a chamber containing a heating liquid and which chamber constitutes one side of a heat exchanger, the other side of which heat exchanger is constituted by a conduit extending through the chamber and connecting a number of heating elements, which conduit is a liquid or steam conveying conduit that is fastened in liquid tight connection with passageways in two mutually facing walls in the chamber.
Floors in livestock stables which are constituted by grid elements are known, e.g. from DE-A-4006915. However, this publication does not give any solution to the support of the elements and to the specific inter-connection of the chambers. The grid elements are shaped with means for coupling with corresponding grid elements, so that a continuous floor or a continuous floor surface is formed. The grid elements are placed on supporting means in the form of a row of parallel ribs extending crosswise in a stable. Grooves provided at the underside of the grid elements are placed over these ribs. The grooves are preferably formed in tooth-shaped projections that go in between corresponding tooth-shaped projections on an adjacent grid element. In such floors the grid elements will preferably be made from plastic. Alternatively, they may also be made from cast iron, steel, or concrete.
In certain parts of the floor surface of the stable floor, it is desired to make use of plate elements which may be heated. These plate elements may be made as a modular element or as an insertable element that may be placed in a frame element interacting with the other grid elements. The heating plates may be electric heating plates or plates that may be heated by means of hot water passing through a chamber. Such a chamber is connected with other heating elements and with a hot water source by means of conduits connecting each of the chambers and which extend underneath the floor construction.
The heating of a floor construction is wished for example in piggeries of considerations to the piglets. In this way modular elements for a floor construction containing heating elements will be placed in the sections of the stable or the pigsty where piglets are found.
Even though a heating element according to the present invention is developed primarily with the purpose of use in livestock stables, then it will also be possible to use the heating element in a floor heating system in other kinds of floors that livestock floors. The heating element may thus be used for heating floors where the other modular elements do not necessarily have to be grid elements. Examples of these may be floors in factories, offices, public buildings, and houses for living.
In the known floor constructions inaccuracies and apparent tolerances occur in the manufacture of steel, concrete, and plastic elements that may form a part of the floor construction. Also, the different elements will be able to make a mutual movement because of the loads occurring when the floor is in use. Furthermore, lesser dislocations, because of thermic action on the single elements in the floor construction, occur. On this background, a risk of leakages occur where the water chambers are connected with the pressurised conduits for the hot water supply. Such a leakage may be very difficult to discover, because it is found at the underside of the floor construction. In stables, leaking of water will be very difficult to discover since animal droppings and urine pass through the grid elements of the floor construction.
The known heating plates may be difficult to mount, since they require adaptation from the underside of the floor construction after they have been placed on the supporting ribs. In many livestock stables there will be limited space under the grid elements and the floor situated beneath in the stable. This may make mounting, coupling together, screwing fast, etc., difficult. It is desirable to be able to mount heating elements with almost the same easiness as the remaining grid elements in the floor construction.
From DE-A1-40 05 915 heating elements of the kind mentioned in the introduction are known. These elements are intended for use in the ceiling of the building. The form of the known elements therefore do not take any consideration to the peculiar mounting and strength conditions which are found in a floor construction where the heating elements at the same time provide a floor surface for, for example, animals.